Saturday, 20 October 2012

THE Gangnam fever has now spread to Bollywood, with megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif copying the typical style for a fun-filled moment on the sets of Kaun Banega Crorepati 6 (KBC).

Shah Rukh and Katrina came as special guests for an upcoming episode of KBC to promote their much-awaited movie Jab Tak Hai Jaan. They entertained the audience with their wit and charm and capped it with the impromptu dance.

The Gangnam style entails unique and bizarre dance steps, made popular through Gangnam Style, a song by South Korean rapper Psy. The style has become a rage, and there’s no doubt the Indian actors are well-tuned in to the latest.

Big B was unaware of the moves, but Shah Rukh agreed to show him the Gangnam style only if the veteran actor and Katrina would join in. Once the trio stood up, they began to groove.

Amitabh shared the pictures of their moves on his blog, and said he had a great time shooting with Shah Rukh and Katrina. All three of them looked elegant in black.

“Fun filled episode with Shah Rukh and Katrina... laughter, leg pulling, dancing, Gangnam, and the audience going wild... bliss!,” Big B tweeted after shooting for the episode, which will go on air on Sony on November 4Shah Rukh’s association with KBC goes back to 2007 when he hosted its third season. But Amitabh took over in the very next season.

BOLLYWOOD star Aamir Khan, and Star India CEO Uday Shankar, were honoured for creating awareness against social discrimination through the issue-based reality show Satyamev Jayate. The actor says the award is special.

Aamir and Shankar were conferred the honour by National Commission for Scheduled Castes at a function here.

“I feel very special today. I am humbled with the kind of love, respect and support that you people have given to me. This honour is not just for me, but also for my team who worked so hard on the show that we were able to understand it and present it to all of you,” Aamir said at the ceremony.

The 47-year-old had touched upon the issue of social discrimination and manual scavenging in one of the episodes of his debut TV show Satyamev Jayate. He had focused on the life of over 300,000 manual scavengers, who clean excreta even today and are considered as untouchables in the society.

“When we decided to start Satyamev Jayate, we thought of bringing up issues which people usually don’t talk about on public platforms.

I felt bad to know that even after 65 years of independence, social discrimination is still prevalent. I felt so bad that I decided that I have to raise this issue in my show,” he said.

“People told me that this is a very sensitive issue and I can get caught in court cases, but I was adamant on bringing it on the show. I was really happy to see the response from people. I got so many emails and letters, especially from the younger generation, who said they felt bad about the current scenario and that they would work towards welfare (of society),” he added.

Shankar says he is also humbled by the honour.

“I’m really thankful to people for this honour. Television is always considered to be a medium of entertainment, but we knew it was much more than that, it can also help create awareness, which we tried to do with the help of Satyamev Jayate. I thank everyone for giving us the courage to take it forward,” Shankar said.

Popular singer Udit Narayan was also present at the c e r e m o n y , where Aamir’s popular songs like Papa kahte hain and Mitwa were played. Aamir also joined him in singing the songs.

The ceremony also saw the presence of several political leaders, including union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja besides Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit.

ACTRESS Demi Moore’s friends aren’t convinced she is over her separation with Ashton Kutcher and, if sources are to be believed, she is jealous of his romance with Mila Kunis.

Moore, who will mark her 50th birthday on November 11, has had an eventful year - her six-year marriage to Kutcher ended last November in the wake of the actor’s public cheating scandal, she was hospitalised last January, and has since endured intense scrutiny of her well-being.

Sources close to her circle say some friends are worried Moore hasn’t fully recovered. Her reduced frame is raising concerns, while a source reveals “her friends aren’t convinced she’s all better”, reports people.com.

Another source close to Moore says she is “jealous and frustrated” by the Kutcher-Kunis romance, while an insider says the actress is taking Kutcher’s cheating the hardest.

“What was humiliating was having her husband cheat on her in such a public way,” the insider said. “But once that happened, she has not looked back.” However, another source maintains she’s doing well, saying: “As hard as it has been, despite the depression of going through a divorce, she came through it.”

JONNY Weston is riding a wave and, if he’s lucky, he’ll ride it to glory and avoid being swept under.

That wave comes courtesy of Chasing Mavericks, a biopic about Jay Moriarity (Weston), a teenager who became a California surfing star after befriending a local legend, Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler). Moriarity went on to surf some of the Earth’s biggest waves at a treacherous spot called the Mavericks, before dying tragically in 2001, at the age of 22, in a diving accident.

Weston, a 20-something actor with only a couple of unreleased indie features under his belt, beat out thousands of hopefuls for the coveted role of Moriarity in the October 26 release. Speaking by cell telephone from somewhere in California, Weston recalls the audition process.

“I auditioned once,’’ he says, “and then I had to wait a month for them to go through the thousands of tapes from all over the world. I waited my month and did a second audition. I think I had three or four callbacks within three weeks after that. Then they tested me with Gerard, and I guess Gerard and I worked really well together right off the bat. They saw that, and I got it.

“Then, after that, they found out that I could surf,’’ he adds. “That was awesome. They didn’t know I could really surf until they’d actually hired me.’’ Oddly enough, Weston knew nothing at all about Moriarity when he first auditioned.

“I hadn’t heard of him,’’ the actor admits. “It was cool in that way, because the first thing that I ever heard of him was the script. I didn’t know the true story until I got that.

“I’m surprised that I hadn’t heard of him,’’ he continues. “A lot of people had. I was really into surfing, and really into Maverick surfing, which is what he did, but I guess I hadn’t really been paying very close attention.’’ Once he landed the role, however, Weston set about learning everything he could about Moriarity: what drove him and how he comported himself, in the water and out of it. He spent time with the real Frosty Hesson and also with Weston’s widow, Kim. All of that background work paid dividends once director Curtis Hanson – and later Michael Apted, who took over after Hanson left the project due to health issues – called Action! “I think the thing that was interesting to me about Jay was the separation between him and the surfing community in terms of personalities,’’ Weston says.

“He refused to be involved in drugs and in the (crappy), aggressive energy of the surfing community, especially in northern California. He found a way right through the middle of all that. He was really so good at surfing that he didn’t feel like he needed to be that way.

“Frosty and Kim ... It’s too much for me to even begin,’’ the actor says. “The script is really well written and it was sufficient, but they helped me bring it to life, helped me bring a whole soul to the character. It was really just beyond making a movie for me, because they gave me this massive motivation and all these ideas about who Jay was and all of the layers of him.

“I couldn’t have done the movie without them.’’ While the personal drama will be important to many moviegoers, plenty of eyes will be on the surfing sequences as well. Weston proudly points out that it’s him on the board for many of the “ooh and ahh’’ moments in Chasing Mavericks.

“A good amount of it, man,’’ Weston says. “Actually the majority of it. They put me through some really rigorous stuff, and I put myself on the line physically. I was scared out of my mind to be in Mavericks. It was an experience I’ll never forget.’’ Weston hopes to see Chasing Mavericks catch on with wide audiences, but that’s not his primary concern.

“To be honest, man, all I care about is that the right people like this movie,’’ he says. “I hope all of America likes it and that the critics like it too, but the most important thing is that the people who were involved, Jay’s family and his friends, like it. Everything else just doesn’t matter.’’ Weston will be a very fresh face for most people. Blond, blue-eyed and buff, he was raised in South Carolina and moved to Los Angeles at 18 to attend the University of Southern California and also to pursue acting. He soon landed roles in several upcoming indie features, including About Cherry, Under the Bed and John Dies at the End.

About Cherry, currently in limited release, follows an 18-year-old girl (Ashley Hinshaw) who becomes an adult film. The film also stars James Franco and Heather Graham, with Weston as the girl’s first boyfriend, who takes the nude photos that start her on her way.

John Dies at the End is a comedy/horror tale from director Don Coscarelli, with Weston co-starring with Paul Giamatti, Rob Mayes and Chase Williamson. Under the Bed is a lowbudget horror movie with a cast of relative unknowns led by Weston. Both films have been playing the festival circuit in search of distributors.

“John Dies at the End was the first movie that I ever got,’’ Weston says. “I’m from the South, and I grew up in some really heavy areas, in terms of gangs, for some period of time. My character in the movie is this getaway kid who gets infected by zombies and becomes a real badass.

“I thought I could use all my expertise of being a white kid and normal-looking, except for really white and ghetto and rapperish,’’ he says, laughing. “I thought that’d be pretty fun to drop on someone.

Don Coscarelli directed that, and he’s a legend of cult-classic films. So it was cool to work with him and do that.

“Under the Bed is my first lead,’’ the actor continues. It’s a ‘Goonies’-esque thriller-horror movie. I liked the story.

You have to understand that I did that two, two-and-half years ago, and it was the same with John Dies at the End. I did that about two years ago. So I was just first getting started when I shot those movies.

“What a trip, right?,’’ he concludes.

“I’m waiting for Chasing Mavericks, this huge release, to open in a few weeks, and these other movies I shot two-and-a-half years ago are just coming out.

DOHA THE top three teams in the Qatar Stars League will play away from home in the fourth round of the championship over the weekend.

League leaders Rayyan will be hosted by Al Khor, Wakrah faces resurgent QSL defending champion Lekhwiya and Al Sadd will be received by Al Sailiya on Sunday. The star match of the weekend is definitely the Wakrah versus Lekhwiya match holding at the Al Gharafa Stadium on Saturday.

Wakrah is on nine points after winning its opening three matches convincingly with six goals scored and none conceded.

Bosnian coach Mehmed Bazdarevic’s technical abilities will be put to test when it faces rejuvenated Lekhwiya, now guided by Belgian Eric Gerets.

Speaking during a pre-match conference on Thursday, Gerets said, “We respect all teams, especially a side like Al Wakra.

They are a good team enjoying a good start to the season so it will be a tough match. There is a bit of rivalry between them and us.” “Our players are back from the (national) camp and we are looking forward to this game. I hope Lekhwiya will regain lost ground. We are very confident about ourselves,” he added.

Lekhwiya, which seemed to have discovered its form after two impressive wins in the Qatar Stars Cup, will rely on Frenchman Simon Dia with support from Sebastian Soria.

League leaders Rayyan will hope to bounce back continue from QNB Cup defeats in the hands of Lekhwiya and Sailiya, when it engages Al Khor on Sunday. Rayyan midfielder Fabio Cesar will miss the match because of an injury, the club announced on Thursday.

Team regulars Jarallah al Marri, Abdullah Afifa,Younis Ali and Hamid Ismail are likely to be in the starting lineup after national team duties.

Al Khor unbeaten in three matches will have home advantage as it hopes to claim maximum points. Sailiya and Kharaitiyat are the two teams yet to score a goal in the QSL.

The bottom of the table club faces Al Sadd on Sunday. It would be a rude shock if it survives the onslaught of the attacking forays of Al Sadd to be led by Spanish legend Raul Gonzalez.

Hassan Shehata will make his QSL debut on the touchline with Arabi on Saturday against Qatar Sports Club.

THE second annual Doha College 10km run will take place on November 16.

Already 500 people have signed up to enjoy the two 5km laps around the Aspire Zone.

David Thompson, the race organiser, explained, “The Doha College 10km is a true community event open to anyone who is 16 and over on race day. It is all about getting out and being part of a mass event.

It doesn’t matter if you run, jog or walk.” “The run is self financing and the QR200 entry fee includes a t-shirt, breakfast and chip timing. There are prizes for the fastest three in each age and gender group, and any runner might win a prize in the free raffle, “ added Thompson.

Moreover, there will be goodies for the volunteers also. “There will also be a raffle for our volunteers. We expect over 100 volunteers on the day and they are as much a part of the event as the runners are. Without them, the race cannot go on.” With medical expertise from Aspetar and the full support of the staff at Aspire, this is expected to become one of Qatar’s leading sporting events.

The event is also becoming known internationally with several runners coming over from the UAE and one runner even coming from Japan.

There are a few places left but Thompson warned runners not to leave registration too late.

“We have to strictly limit numbers to ensure safety.All registration is online and there are no entries on the day.”

SPAIN’S Dani Pedrosa got off to a flying start Friday in hot and humid conditions with the fastest time in practice ahead of the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix this weekend.

The Honda rider is just 28 points behind championship points leader Yamaha ace Jorge Lorenzo with three rounds remaining this season, including in Sepang.

Title-hopeful Pedrosa, who is battling for his first ever MotoGP crown, clocked 2min 01.621sec in the first session on a dry surface.

Pedrosa’s Australian teammate and reigning world champion Casey Stoner, who is recovering from an ankle injury, clocked the second best time of 2:01.773.

The injury has ended twotime world champion Stoner’s bid to retain the title before his retirement from Grand Prix racing at the end of this season.

Lorenzo of Spain, who is expected to win the championship, was third, finishing 0.313 of a second behind Pedrosa.

Stoner is 113 points adrift of Lorenzo, and with three races to go in the season is unable to overtake him as the winner of each event collects 25 points.

Lorenzo has 310 points, Pedrosa is on 282 and Stoner 197.

Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi of Italy clocked the eleventh fastest time for Ducati at 2:03.274.

But the second session was marred by patches of heavy rain with many of the top riders including Pedrosa, Stoner and Lorenzo driving carefully to avoid any injury.

While Avintia Blusens’ Ivan Silva of Spain set the fastest lap in the second practice in the high 2.10 seconds, it was Pedrosa’s pace in the mid 2.01 seconds in the first session that gave the best indication of the pace to come this weekend.

The starting grid for Sunday’s Malaysian GP, the 16th leg of the 18-round championship, will be decided in the qualifying session after another free practice on Saturday.

PGE SKRA Belchatow exacted a sweet revenge for its emotional setback and defeated European champion Zenit Kazan in five-set thriller to clinch the third place at the FIVB World Clubs Men’s Volleyball Championship.

At the Women’s Sports Hall in Aspire Zone on Friday, the Polish team, runner-up in the 2009 and 2010 in Doha, led after the first set but trailed 1- 2. Then it lifted its levels and led the last year’s finalist Zenit for the most of the remaining match before emerging a 25-18 18-25 15-25 26-24 15-11 in 117 minutes, enjoyed by a capacity crowd.

The winner pocketed $120,000, while the fourthplace finish fetched the Russian team $90,000.

In the European Champions League final earlier this year, Belchatow had lost the emotional final at home to the Russian team in front of more than 14,000 fans. It was leading 2-1 but Zenit returned into the match with a lot of force and clinched it in the tie-break set.

Later, for the new season, its three main players left it so Belchatow had come to this event with an aim to test its new team.

New and young talent Aleksandar Atanasijevic once again played a significant role in the Polish team’s victory, mustering a match-high 22 points, including 21 off his power-packed smashing.

For Zenit, captain Maxim Mikhaylov scored 21, which included 18 from smashes.

Evgeny Sivozhelez collected 17 and he was followed by Alexandar Abrosimov (14), Matthew Anderson (12) and Nikolay Apalikov (11).

The match came alive after Zenit forged 2-1 ahead and the Belchatow team felt pressure to defend its narrow lead from midway fourth set.

Belchatow opened a small gap and led 12-8. But Zenit slowly came back and equalised at 12. Then briefly, Belchatow trailed and caught up with the rival at 15. The battle continued to gain some clear edge and the scores tied again at 22 to set up a thrilling end to the set.

Belchatow was put ahead as Matthew Anderson netted his service. But Maxim Mikhalov levelled the scores with a solid block.

Belchatow captain Wlazly smashed superbly to set up the set point but the Russian captain again rescued his team with a spike. Kooistra hammered a short ball home to gain another set point for Belchatow and Winiarski read the ball well and pulled off a nice block on Mikhaylov to win the set, forcing the tiebreaker.

Winiarski and Atanasijevic exhibited some clever volleyball and it enabled Belchatow to stay ahead after 5-5. Zenit tried to cut down the margin and had needed only one more point to tie the score at 11. But Atanasijevic rifled two spikes to increase the gap to 13-10.

Bakiewicz secured a successful block to bring up the first match point. But Winiarski’s service went out. Then Bakiewicz cracked a smash to spark a moving celebration among the teammates.

Coach Jacek Nawrocki also rushed to the court to join his celebrating players.

While Zenit captain Mikhaylov and coach Vladimir Alenko were too disappointed to say much about the match, Belchatow captain Wlazly and coach Nawrocki expressed delight at getting some measures of consolation for its Euro loss.

Wlazly said: “We’re very pleased with the victory today and keen to meet Zenit in the Champions League again in the new season.” Nawrocki commented: “Of course we rememeber the home European Champions League final defeat at home.

We took the revenge for that today. But I wish to add here again that we have a new team. Our three main players left (Miguel Angel Falasca, Bartosz Kurek and Marcin Mozdzonek). But we still played a fine volleyball and won the third place.” Fenerbahce wins bronze Fenerbahce SK Istanbul, the 2010 winners, added the women’s world clubs championship bronze medal to its cupboard when it turned in a compact game to beat Puerto Rico’s Lancheras de Catano in straight sets.

The Turkish team which had defeated Sollys Nestle from Brazil in the final two years ago, spent only one hour and 13 minutes to win the match by 25-16 25-17 25- 17.

EUROPEAN Union leaders took a big stride towards establishing a single banking supervisor for the eurozone, agreeing it would enter into force next year, opening the way for the bloc’s rescue fund to inject capital directly into ailing banks.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the 27 leaders agreed at a Brussels summit to adopt a legal framework by the end of this year giving the European Central Bank overall responsibility for banking supervision.

“Once this is agreed, the single supervisory mechanism could probably be effectively operational in the course of 2013,” he told a news conference after nearly 10 hours of talks.

French and EU officials said all 6,000 banks in the single currency area would gradually come under ECB supervision by 2014, starting with banks receiving state aid, then large crossborder institutions. Most dayto- day oversight would be delegated to national bodies.

Creating an effective banking union, for which this deal was a first step, is regarded by the International Monetary Fund and market economists as a key component in overcoming the euro zone’s three-year-old debt crisis.

French President Francois Hollande said the leaders did not discuss possible financial assistance for Spain, but he laid out a series of steps that could turn a corner in the crisis.

“Tonight, I have the confirmation that the worst is behind us,” he told a 3 am news conference.

“We are on track to solve the problems that for too long have been paralyzing the eurozone and made it vulnerable. If the December European summit confirms the decisions we took, if Greece finds a lasting solution, if Spain recovers funding mechanisms, then we will be done with a situation which weighed on markets and on the confidence in the eurozone.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it would take more than a couple of months before the supervisor was fully effective and direct bank recapitalisation could be considered.

However, the agreement appeared to be a defeat for German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble’s efforts to delay and limit the scope of European banking supervision.

Germany has been reluctant to see its politically sensitive savings and cooperative banks come under outside supervision. It rejects any joint deposit guarantee under which richer countries might have to underwrite banks in poorer states.

The deal came after the leaders of France and Germany, Europe’s central powers, held a private meeting after clashing in public over greater EU control of national budgets.